Cowboy Museum

I spent the early afternoon in the Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. A good museum should bring its subject matter to life, not merely display it as relics of a dead past, and this museum does that superbly. If nothing else, it made me want to ride a horse and start watching Westerns. The artwork was extraordinary. Some of the guns and saddles were exquisitely crafted. There was a whole mock town and a great exhibit on the cowboy lifestyle.

Manequin scenes:


Sculpture (The End of the Trail, on the defeat of the Natives; and a giant marble cougar):


Paintings (photography wasn't allowed for some of the paintings but I think these were ok):

"Don't smoke a pipe inside [the wagon] especially in the morning; spit on the leeward side of the coach.
If you have anything to take in a bottle, pass it around; a man who drinks by himself in such a case is lost to all human feeling.
Don't discuss politics or religion, nor point out places on the road where horrible murders have been committed , if delicate women are among the passengers."

Odometer Milestone

(Press Play. You may want to mute the volume, it's just engine noise.)

For the record, I have gone 9,890 miles so far on this trip.

The weather is very cold this morning. I'm at Panera again charging my batteries, then I'm going into the city to see a museum.